Coach Jackie Fort's squad started the 2012-13 season with only six players on the roster. A season-ending injury to two-time all-star Julian Cox in the Cougars' first game left Fort with barely enough players to field a team.

Fortunately for the coach, the team has taken on her never-give-up attitude, and believes it can still compete for a league title.

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"With four teams in the league we have a very good chance of still winning it," said Fort. "(Without Cox) we have three returning starters and a 5-foot-11 eighth grader who plays year-round."

"We want to do it for Julie," said Marshall.

The team knows the road to the crown won't be easy, especially with such few players.

"It's rough," said Cassie Marshall. "We have to work a lot harder and stick together more."

The coach, in her second full year, has been a key part of the girls basketball program at Stockbridge Valley since its inception in 1999. She wanted an option for girls who didn't want to play volleyball or be a cheerleader during the winter and pitched the idea of a girls basketball team to the school.

"I played modified and JV that year, sometimes two games in one night," said Fort. "I was pretty tired."

She played basketball through her graduation in 2004 and was going to return as a JV coach for the 2009-10 season. However, many of the JV players moved up to varsity, and the JV program was eliminated after one week.

Fort wasn't off the sidelines long, returning as the varsity coach midway through the season after Dick Leahey resigned for health reasons.

The team has continued to dwindle in size from that point, down to six this year.

"It's challenging," Fort said. "I'd like to see them practice five-on-five and see different situations. But they're ready to work and we'll do the best we can."

Fortunately, Fort has a little reinforcement in the present, and possibly more on the horizon. Emilia Wosley joined the team after Cox's injury, but can't participate in a game until she fulfills the practice requirements.

Twelve eighth-graders also signed up to play modified basketball this winter, with nearly as many seventh graders. While some will most likely abandon the sport for volleyball and cheerleading next year, Fort hopes there will be enough left over to keep the program alive. Cox is the only senior on this year's squad.